I was reminded of one of my favorite fables involving Pablo Picasso and the 5 minute portrait tonight after a visit to the doctor’s with my son.

Fable copy via 37signals:

Legend has it that Pablo Picasso was sketching in the park when a bold woman approached him.

“It’s you — Picasso, the great artist! Oh, you must sketch my portrait! I insist.”

So Picasso agreed to sketch her. After studying her for a moment, he used a single pencil stroke to create her portrait. He handed the women his work of art.

“It’s perfect!” she gushed. “You managed to capture my essence with one stroke, in one moment. Thank you! How much do I owe you?”

“Five thousand dollars,” the artist replied.

“B-b-but, what?” the woman sputtered. “How could you want so much money for this picture? It only took you a second to draw it!”

To which Picasso responded, “Madame, it took me my entire life.”

We (my ex-wife and I) took our son to see an ENT (ear, nose, throat) specialist because of some fluid behind his ear drums which makes it hard for him to hear soft noises.  The doctor was very efficient. Asked a few questions, looked quickly in my son’s ears and in this throat (I think for a total of 2 minutes, max) and then said “we should take his tonsils out.”  You could see my ex reeling a bit as she tried to slow down the doctor to get a better understanding of what that meant and why after such a quick examination she could make such a “drastic” recommendation.

It was the Pablo Picasso fable all over again.  And at the end of it (10 minutes later) my ex said “I’m glad she won’t be doing the surgery, she’s cold,” and it struck me how little the doctor’s expertise mattered at that point to my ex.  The efficiency, the expertise actually hurt my ex’s impression of the doctor.  And why was that? Because the doctor didn’t make us a part of the process.  The process, the thinking, the decision making, was all hidden out of view.  We weren’t part of the process, just like the lady in the sketch and it negatively impacted the experience, even when the result is “correct” or appropriate.

It hit me. Process is everything.

Your satisfaction with the end result is directly tied to the process you went through to get there.  When we short circuit the process or hide it from our customer’s view we don’t let them participate. We don’t let them collaborate, we don’t let them experience the value that we bring through what we do.  And when we fail to do that the end is always less satisfying.

You can see it with Picasso and the doctor.  If both of them had taken more time, had invested more interest, had made the customer part of the process and made that process visible and understandable the customer, with the same exact end result, would’ve been much happier.  Now art is tough, creativity is rarely process driven; but the doctor has no excuse.  Neither do the rest of us.

What can you do to highlight the process and the value it brings so that your customers feel more ownership of the end result?  The more you make them a part of it the more satisfaction they’ll get at the end.